Wedding Night
by hkm
Summary: My version of the "missing scene" in Breaking Dawn between the swim and waking up. Bella's POV. I know there are tons of these out there, but none I could find really rang true in my head, so I wrote my own. My first story, please be kind.


_Thank you Stephanie Meyer for creating these wonderfully deep characters for us to play with!_

**_The Wedding Night_**

We had all the time in the world, and we were completely alone. He pulled me against his body and kissed me for what seemed like a very long time. Every inch of my skin tingled. My breath never slowed and my heart didn't stop pounding. It felt surreal; I couldn't believe we were here together, in my happy place, finally, nothing between our bodies but water. I could feel him hard against me. The knowledge that he was as excited as I was sent my head spinning. He broke the kiss and pulled back to look in my eyes. His hands held my face on either side so gently.

"Bella, I want to look at you, is that all right?" I didn't think I could find my voice, so I just nodded infinitesimally. I stood in shoulder high water as he stepped back a few paces. His face in the shadow of the moon, I could barely see his eyes lower in the dark.

"Can you…" I was going to ask if he can even see me through the dark water, but of course he could. He smiled.

"You don't know how many times I've imagined this moment. You are…exquisite, even more beautiful than I dreamed." His voice was shaking. He returned to me and wound his arms around me. He trailed kisses down the side of my neck.

"All I can see is black water. That's hardly fair." I could only manage a whisper.

He spoke into my ear. "I could step out of the water for a moment, to give you a better view?" There was a smile in his voice, but there was something else there too. He sounded unsure. I just nodded again. He turned us and took a few steps backward, toward the shore, and then turned around so his back was to me. As he took a few more slow steps, he spoke over his shoulder. "Is the moonlight sufficient? Or would you like me to turn on the floodlights?" The smile was still in his voice.

"This is fine." Even in the heat I could feel my blush. I watched as more of him became visible above the dark water. I had expected him to be beautiful, perfect even, and he was. Every single line of him was absolutely perfect. He turned around to face me, smiling my favorite crooked smile. My breath stopped. I had always thought his beauty was too much to bear. Seeing him there, naked in the moonlight, was too much to bear. My brain slowly processed every line, every curve. I felt my blush deepen as my eyes took in his erection. The joy at thinking this amazing man was mine was almost immediately replaced by the sadness at the thought of what he must see when he looks at my plain, utterly imperfect body. I quickly closed my eyes against the painful sight of him. With my eyes closed, I was able to start breathing again. I felt movement in the water, and when I opened my eyes he was right in front of me. He put his hands on the tops of my arms and touched his forehead with mine.

"What are you thinking? I hoped you would…do you not like what you see?" He was looking right into my eyes, dazzling me, as always. My mind only half processed his words.

"What?" I asked. Then his meaning clicked into place. I took a breath to center myself. "Of course I do, you're perfect, what could I possibly not like? Why would you say that?"

"I was afraid that maybe I was finally going to see the running and screaming." He seemed only marginally relieved. "Why the pained expression then?" He brushed his fingertips across my cheek.

"You are so beautiful it hurts to look at you." I answered. He rolled his eyes. "And I was thinking" I paused to try to find the right words, and I could tell he was impatient for my answer, extremely impatient, "about what you are giving me, and what I have to offer you in return." I cast my eyes down and made a small gesture with my hand under the water to indicate my body. He took my hands in his and pulled them to his lips.

"You have promised yourself to me forever by becoming my wife, you plan to sacrifice your human life to be with me. What could be a more precious gift?" He said. "As far as what you are offering me _physically_..." He looked down at my body again, and his eyes were hungry. "When I first realized I loved you, I didn't dare imagine you could ever want this, not in my wildest dreams." He took both my hands in one of his, and pressed them against his chest. He stroked my face with the other. "I was terrified to touch you, afraid that I'd hurt you, afraid of your rejection. I expected you to cringe away from my cold inhuman touch, but you welcomed it. You've surprised me at every turn." He ran the tips of his fingers slowly down my neck to my chest. "That you would even be _willing_ to share your body with me is beyond imagining, let alone that you could actually _desire_ this." His fingers continued down, along my chest and under the water, down to the side of my breast. My breath caught and my head tilted back without my permission. He let go of my hands and pulled me toward him into a kiss as he cupped his whole hand around my breast. "Don't ever think that you are any less than a dream come true for me." He said against my mouth. The caress was so tender, so gentle. His hands were not as cold as usual under the warm water, and I didn't even feel a chill as he touched me, only the trail of heat that was left behind. His hands roamed over me as he kissed me, and my mind turned fuzzy. I hoped I wouldn't faint.

He may not have had practical experience with this kind of thing, other than the limited "rehearsing" he'd done with me, but he knew what he was doing. He had heard any number of people's thoughts, both men and women. He knew just how to touch me to feed the blaze. He truly was good at everything. After a few minutes his fingers found their mark and slowly, so gently, pushed inside me. I sucked in my breath in a broken staccato, and my eyes flew open. His mouth froze where it was kissing my neck. "Is this all right?" He whispered in my ear. "Am I rushing you?" .

I had to dig for my voice, but I found it. "Rushing me? No, Edward, I _want _you to touch me. I can't even describe how wonderful it feels." He pulled my mouth to his and continued to explore me with his fingers. My knees felt weak, and I realized he was holding me up.

"Then do you feel ready to move on to the bed?" He asked in between kisses. All my uncertainty was gone. I was ready.

I nodded. "Yes." I managed to squeak out. He picked me up and carried me to where my towel was hanging, took it off the tree and wrapped it around me without putting me down. He continued to kiss me as he walked at a faster than human pace. He laid me down on the bed, my head on a pillow. I don't know what happened to the towel but it was suddenly gone. He stood up a moment to look at me, then picked up my ankle and kissed it. He placed my leg back down and ran his hand up the side of my leg, trailing kisses right behind. My heart was out of control now. He continued the trail of kisses to my hip, then to my stomach and chest between my breasts, then to my neck. His hand stopped at my ribcage. He pressed himself against me and pulled me closer to him for a moment, then he turned us so we were both on our sides facing each other. I propped my head up on one elbow, and laid my other hand on his waist. He touched my lips with the tip of his finger.

"I love you so much Bella. I hope I can make you as happy as you've made me." He kissed me again. His kisses were becoming more urgent, as was his touch. He held me tightly, so close to him. I felt like his ice was melting against my fire, and our edges grew fuzzy. My hands wandered on his body now. I wanted to explore all of him, to touch him like he had touched me, but I didn't have the knowledge he had. I didn't know how to ask him what to do. As my hand came closer to my goal, he correctly interpreted my hesitation. He took my hand in his and guided me to stroke his length. It felt smooth and hard, just like the rest of his body. When he let go of my hand and returned his hands to my body, I was too distracted by his touch to continue on my own. He trailed kisses down my neck and his mouth joined his hand in exploring my breasts. Being with Edward this way was the most pleasure I'd ever experienced. He rolled me back onto my back and coaxed my legs apart with his knee as he settled back on top of me. His hands weaved into my hair and I put my arms around him. I wanted every part of him to touch every part of me. My hair was already wet from the shower and from swimming, and it stuck to my sweat-covered face. Edward pushed my hair back, then shaped his hand to the side of my face, and kissed me, not as gentle as before. When he pulled back from the kiss he looked deep into my eyes, searching, questioning.

I had expected it to hurt when he first entered me, I had heard that the first time was usually painful, but he went so slowly and gently that I felt no pain at all. His eyes never left mine. The feeling of him inside me was indescribable. It was pure joy and pleasure. My back arched a bit and I let out a wordless cry as he pressed further into me. He stopped moving as soon as I cried out. When I opened my eyes, he was still looking intently into my face. "I need to hear you say I'm not hurting you Bella, tell me this feels good to you." He said, fear in his voice, still not looking away from my eyes.

I became aware of my hands on his backside, pressing him into me, and I moved them to the sides of his face. "Yes Edward. Yes it feels good. It feels amazing. I love you. Please don't stop." I pulled his mouth back to mine. I felt him smile against my lips before returning the kiss. He pulled back to look at me again, and for one second I felt a thrill of fear at his fierce expression. His hand moved, too fast for me to follow, to my hip. Taking ahold of me and pressing me against him, his hand moved down my thigh and pulled my leg around his waist. I followed his lead with my other leg.

"Keep making that sound and I may never stop." His voice was low, husky, almost a growl. He punctuated his sentence with a hard thrust. A satisfied smile crossed his face as I cried out again. My hands clutched at him as he moved in me. My palms were wet with sweat, and his body was still wet from our swim. My hands slipped off his smooth hard skin. I couldn't get close enough to him, touch enough of him, connect with enough of him. I held him to me as tightly as I could. I couldn't catch my breath. His hands clutched at me too, he pulled me against him and pressed me into the bed. I drowned in every touch of his hands, every kiss of his lips. I felt like my whole life had been leading up to this moment. There could be no question anymore that this was right. It felt so right, so meant to be. I felt complete. We were made for each other. We were home.

He whispered to me as he began to move faster. "Bella, oh Bella, I love you." I felt myself fall over the edge. My back arched, my head flew back, and I closed my eyes. I called out loudly; no words would come but his name. As he ran his tongue down my neck, I could hear his heavy breathing, no, it was growling, in my ear. He held me so tightly it was heaven; I never wanted this to end. He turned his head away from me and I could feel his body shutter. We didn't move for a few minutes while our breathing slowed and we returned to earth. Then he brought his mouth back to mine and kissed me hard. He touched his forehead to mine.

"You're all right?" He asked.

"I'm wonderful." I smiled up at him.

"Yes, you are." He said, smiling back.

"See? You didn't need to be afraid. I knew we could do it." I said, feeling euphoric. My muscles were relaxing, almost melting. He pulled back, breaking our connection, and rolled onto his back next to me. I felt a sharp stab of sadness, a feeling of loss, at our separation but he pulled me close to him, and I cuddled right up and laid my head down on his chest.

He smoothed my hair with one hand and put his other arm around me. He took a deep breath. "My beautiful wife." He paused a moment. "I am glad we waited for this."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"I feel like you belong to me, like you're really mine." He said.

I felt so relaxed, the words came out a little slurred. "I've always belonged to you. I've always been yours." I said as I snuggled closer to him. He just chuckled a little and started dragging his fingers up and down my arm. We held each other in silence for a while. I fell asleep to the sound of him humming my lullaby.


End file.
